


Slugs and Snails, Puppy Tails

by Entwinedlove



Series: The Great October Challenge 2017 [81]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-07-28 21:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16249976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Alecto and Antonin go undercover at a festival in search of a squib for the Dark Lord.





	Slugs and Snails, Puppy Tails

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Death Eater Express's 31 Halloween Prompts  
> Day 28 prompt: Alecto Carrow / pumpkin festival / a broken mirror / "Slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails."
> 
> [ ](https://i.imgur.com/9irl8KT.jpg)

Alecto Carrow did not know what she was doing at this ridiculous Muggle pumpkin festival. Who the fuck celebrates pumpkins? She sighed as she walked through the crowd of Muggles, her upper lip raised in a half-snarl of disgust when one or two touched the hem of her skirt. She even _looked_ ridiculous. A fluffy top advertised as a 'peasant top' that showed off too much of her shoulders and décolletage, a wide skirt that might have tripped her up if she hadn't been using her non-wand hand to hold it up in front of her. She could have killed Antonin when he brought it back from the Muggle shops.

"What is this?" she had asked him, outraged.

"It's a costume, you know, for the festival," he had answered, not even bothering to hide his grin. _His_ costume had looked more like normal Wizarding robes with trousers added.

He was around here somewhere as well, mingling with Muggles. They were supposed to be looking for someone, some prophecy-spouting squib or something. Alecto had been too brassed about the entire assignment to listen properly.

She passed by a stall with shawls and fabric hanging in swathes from the ceiling and the sides as if to try to hide the fact that the stall was slipshod and crooked. The stalls were about the only thing tilted or leaning around here. All the straight lines and perfect circles of Muggle construction and design made her nervous. It was too neat. Magic was organic, it was of the earth, and that meant no perfect anything. Muggle creations were fake and they felt so wrong.

As Alecto passed the shawl-covered stall she heard the unmistakable sound of glass cracking and a woman's gasp. She turned and saw Antonin nearby, also looking around, searching for the sound. They both came together in front of the stall; Alecto's mind focusing sharply on her assignment now rather than on her distaste for the Muggles.

"What do you think?" Antonin whispered, gesturing at the stall with a minute tilt of his head. "Foe-glass?"

She glanced towards the woman sitting in the stall who was looking down at something. Alecto shook her head. "Broken mirror."

Antonin frowned and turned to the woman in the stall. "What are you selling, woman?" he asked her. She was old and gnarled, and the shawls that decorated the stall decorated her two, she was wearing at least four.

"Slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails, young man. I'm selling home-made lotions and soaps. Would you care for a sample?"

His frown intensified and he shook his head, turning back to Alecto. "Come on, she's not the one." He stalked off, obviously just as unhappy with the assignment as her. Alecto glanced at the woman once more and she was watching them just as closely. Something about the woman gave her the creeps. Alecto followed after her partner, sure they would eventually find the squib the Dark Lord had tasked them to find.


End file.
